Software vulnerability detection in managed networks

ABSTRACT

A system may include persistent storage containing representations of configuration items discovered in a managed network, where the configuration items include computing devices and software applications installed on the computing devices. One or more processors may be configured to: (i) obtain results of a vulnerability analysis performed on a software application, where the results indicate that the software application exhibits a vulnerability, (i) determine a count of computing devices on which the software application is installed, (iii) calculate a security threat score for the vulnerability, where the security threat score is based on a severity factor of the vulnerability and the count of computing devices, (iv) provide, to a first entity, a first indication of the software application and the vulnerability, and (v) provide, to a second entity, a second indication of the software application, the vulnerability, and the security threat score.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/554,218, entitled “SOFTWARE VULNERABILITY DETECTION IN MANAGEDNETWORKS”, filed on Aug. 28, 2019, the contents of which are entirelyincorporated herein by reference, as if fully set forth in thisapplication.

BACKGROUND

Managed networks may include tens, hundreds, or thousands of individualcomputing devices, such as personal computers, laptop computers,servers, virtual machines, storage devices, routers, and so on. Thesecomponents may be geographically distributed across multiple physicallocations. As they may contain or provide access to confidential and/orsensitive information, the security of these devices and networks can beimportant to individuals, groups, and organizations. Thus,vulnerabilities on a managed network (e.g., due to software defects,misconfigurations, etc.) should be addressed with a degree of urgencythat is commensurate with the criticality, exposure, exploitability, andspread of the vulnerabilities.

A remote network management platform may be used, in conjunction with alocal proxy server application installed on the managed network, todiscover and inventory the hardware, software, and services deployed onand provided by the managed network. This data may be stored in theremote network management platform as configuration items. Vulnerabilitydetection tools may be integrated with the remote network managementplatform so that vulnerabilities found by these tools can be associatedwith the configuration items.

SUMMARY

The integration of configuration items, as well as vulnerability dataregarding these configuration items, into a remote network managementplatform facilitates new features and functionality not previouslyavailable. In particular, custom software applications, developed by anenterprise for use on its managed network, may exhibit vulnerabilities.Such vulnerabilities may be detected (e.g., by software engineeringstaff) by way of vulnerability detection tools using static or dynamiccode analysis. Vulnerabilities may also be detected (e.g., byinformation technology operations staff) by way of vulnerabilitydetection tools that scan deployed versions of the custom softwareapplications.

In either case, the remote network management platform—possibly inconjunction with vulnerability detection tool—may contain sufficientinformation to be able to calculate a security threat score for thevulnerability. This score may be based on the severity, exploitability,and/or exposure of the vulnerability, as well as the number of computingdevices on which the vulnerability has been found.

Furthermore, the configuration item data may be used to mapvulnerabilities found by way of static or dynamic code analysis oncustom software applications to specific configuration items impacted,and to notify information technology operations staff accordingly.Conversely, the configuration item data may be used to mapvulnerabilities found by way of scanning deployed versions of the customsoftware applications to specific custom software applications, and tonotify software engineering staff accordingly.

Thus, a first example embodiment may involve persistent storagecontaining representations of configuration items discovered in amanaged network, where the configuration items include computing devicesdeployed within the managed network, software applications installed onthe computing devices, and relationship data mapping the softwareapplications to the computing devices on which they are installed. Oneor more processors may be configured to: (i) obtain results of avulnerability analysis performed on a software application discovered inthe managed network, where the results indicate that the softwareapplication exhibits a vulnerability, and where the vulnerability isassociated with a severity factor that indicates criticality of thevulnerability, (ii) determine, from the representations of configurationitems in the persistent storage, a count of computing devices on whichthe software application is installed, (iii) calculate a security threatscore for the software application having the vulnerability, where thesecurity threat score is at least based on the severity factor of thevulnerability and the count of computing devices, (iv) provide, to afirst entity associated with development of the software application, afirst indication of the software application and the vulnerability, and(v) provide, to a second entity associated with operation of the managednetwork, a second indication of the software application, thevulnerability, and the security threat score.

A second example embodiment may involve obtaining results of avulnerability analysis performed on a software application discovered ina managed network, where the results indicate that the softwareapplication exhibits a vulnerability, where the vulnerability isassociated with a severity factor that indicates criticality of thevulnerability, where persistent storage contains representations ofconfiguration items discovered in the managed network, and where theconfiguration items include computing devices deployed within themanaged network, software applications installed on the computingdevices, and relationship data mapping the software applications to thecomputing devices on which they are installed. The second exampleembodiment may also involve determining, from the representations ofconfiguration items in the persistent storage, a count of computingdevices on which the software application is installed. The secondexample embodiment may also involve calculating a security threat scorefor the vulnerability, where the security threat score is at least basedon the severity factor of the vulnerability and the count of computingdevices. The second example embodiment may also involve providing, to afirst entity associated with development of the software application, afirst indication of the software application and the vulnerability. Thesecond example embodiment may also involve providing, to a second entityassociated with operation of the managed network, a second indication ofthe software application, the vulnerability, and the security threatscore.

In a third example embodiment, an article of manufacture may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon programinstructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform operations in accordance with the firstand/or second example embodiment.

In a fourth example embodiment, a computing system may include at leastone processor, as well as memory and program instructions. The programinstructions may be stored in the memory, and upon execution by the atleast one processor, cause the computing system to perform operations inaccordance with the first and/or second example embodiment.

In a fifth example embodiment, a system may include various means forcarrying out each of the operations of the first and/or second exampleembodiment.

These, as well as other embodiments, aspects, advantages, andalternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artby reading the following detailed description, with reference whereappropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, this summary andother descriptions and figures provided herein are intended toillustrate embodiments by way of example only and, as such, thatnumerous variations are possible. For instance, structural elements andprocess steps can be rearranged, combined, distributed, eliminated, orotherwise changed, while remaining within the scope of the embodimentsas claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of a computing device, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic drawing of a server device cluster, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a communication environment involving a remote networkmanagement architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5A depicts another communication environment involving a remotenetwork management architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts roles and vulnerability information flow between theseroles, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts a communication environment involving a remote networkmanagement platform, managed network, and a vulnerability detectioncloud service, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts a vulnerability data flow, in accordance with exampleembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should beunderstood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein tomean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodimentor feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or features unless stated as such. Thus, other embodimentscan be utilized and other changes can be made without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein.

Accordingly, the example embodiments described herein are not meant tobe limiting. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations. For example, theseparation of features into “client” and “server” components may occurin a number of ways.

Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated ineach of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus,the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one ormore overall embodiments, with the understanding that not allillustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.

Additionally, any enumeration of elements, blocks, or steps in thisspecification or the claims is for purposes of clarity. Thus, suchenumeration should not be interpreted to require or imply that theseelements, blocks, or steps adhere to a particular arrangement or arecarried out in a particular order.

I. Introduction

A large enterprise is a complex entity with many interrelatedoperations. Some of these are found across the enterprise, such as humanresources (HR), supply chain, information technology (IT), and finance.However, each enterprise also has its own unique operations that provideessential capabilities and/or create competitive advantages.

To support widely-implemented operations, enterprises typically useoff-the-shelf software applications, such as customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) packages. However,they may also need custom software applications to meet their own uniquerequirements. A large enterprise often has dozens or hundreds of thesecustom software applications. Nonetheless, the advantages provided bythe embodiments herein are not limited to large enterprises and may beapplicable to an enterprise, or any other type of organization, of anysize.

Many such software applications are developed by individual departmentswithin the enterprise. These range from simple spreadsheets tocustom-built software tools and databases. But the proliferation ofsiloed custom software applications has numerous disadvantages. Itnegatively impacts an enterprise's ability to run and grow itsoperations, innovate, and meet regulatory requirements. The enterprisemay find it difficult to integrate, streamline and enhance itsoperations due to lack of a single system that unifies its subsystemsand data.

To efficiently create custom applications, enterprises would benefitfrom a remotely-hosted application platform that eliminates unnecessarydevelopment complexity. The goal of such a platform would be to reducetime-consuming, repetitive application development tasks so thatsoftware engineers and individuals in other roles can focus ondeveloping unique, high-value features.

In order to achieve this goal, the concept of Application Platform as aService (aPaaS) is introduced, to intelligently automate workflowsthroughout the enterprise. An aPaaS system is hosted remotely from theenterprise, but may access data, applications, and services within theenterprise by way of secure connections. Such an aPaaS system may have anumber of advantageous capabilities and characteristics. Theseadvantages and characteristics may be able to improve the enterprise'soperations and workflow for IT, HR, CRM, customer service, applicationdevelopment, and security.

The aPaaS system may support development and execution ofmodel-view-controller (MVC) applications. MVC applications divide theirfunctionality into three interconnected parts (model, view, andcontroller) in order to isolate representations of information from themanner in which the information is presented to the user, therebyallowing for efficient code reuse and parallel development. Theseapplications may be web-based, and offer create, read, update, delete(CRUD) capabilities. This allows new applications to be built on acommon application infrastructure.

The aPaaS system may support standardized application components, suchas a standardized set of widgets for graphical user interface (GUI)development. In this way, applications built using the aPaaS system havea common look and feel. Other software components and modules may bestandardized as well. In some cases, this look and feel can be brandedor skinned with an enterprise's custom logos and/or color schemes.

The aPaaS system may support the ability to configure the behavior ofapplications using metadata. This allows application behaviors to berapidly adapted to meet specific needs. Such an approach reducesdevelopment time and increases flexibility. Further, the aPaaS systemmay support GUI tools that facilitate metadata creation and management,thus reducing errors in the metadata.

The aPaaS system may support clearly-defined interfaces betweenapplications, so that software developers can avoid unwantedinter-application dependencies. Thus, the aPaaS system may implement aservice layer in which persistent state information and other data arestored.

The aPaaS system may support a rich set of integration features so thatthe applications thereon can interact with legacy applications andthird-party applications. For instance, the aPaaS system may support acustom employee-onboarding system that integrates with legacy HR, IT,and accounting systems.

The aPaaS system may support enterprise-grade security. Furthermore,since the aPaaS system may be remotely hosted, it should also utilizesecurity procedures when it interacts with systems in the enterprise orthird-party networks and services hosted outside of the enterprise. Forexample, the aPaaS system may be configured to share data amongst theenterprise and other parties to detect and identify common securitythreats.

Other features, functionality, and advantages of an aPaaS system mayexist. This description is for purpose of example and is not intended tobe limiting.

As an example of the aPaaS development process, a software developer maybe tasked to create a new application using the aPaaS system. First, thedeveloper may define the data model, which specifies the types of datathat the application uses and the relationships therebetween. Then, viaa GUI of the aPaaS system, the developer enters (e.g., uploads) the datamodel. The aPaaS system automatically creates all of the correspondingdatabase tables, fields, and relationships, which can then be accessedvia an object-oriented services layer.

In addition, the aPaaS system can also build a fully-functional MVCapplication with client-side interfaces and server-side CRUD logic. Thisgenerated application may serve as the basis of further development forthe user. Advantageously, the developer does not have to spend a largeamount of time on basic application functionality. Further, since theapplication may be web-based, it can be accessed from anyInternet-enabled client device. Alternatively or additionally, a localcopy of the application may be able to be accessed, for instance, whenInternet service is not available.

The aPaaS system may also support a rich set of pre-definedfunctionality that can be added to applications. These features includesupport for searching, email, templating, workflow design, reporting,analytics, social media, scripting, mobile-friendly output, andcustomized GUIs.

The following embodiments describe architectural and functional aspectsof example aPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantagesthereof.

II. Example Computing Devices and Cloud-Based Computing Environments

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram exemplifying a computing device100, illustrating some of the components that could be included in acomputing device arranged to operate in accordance with the embodimentsherein. Computing device 100 could be a client device (e.g., a deviceactively operated by a user), a server device (e.g., a device thatprovides computational services to client devices), or some other typeof computational platform. Some server devices may operate as clientdevices from time to time in order to perform particular operations, andsome client devices may incorporate server features.

In this example, computing device 100 includes processor 102, memory104, network interface 106, and an input/output unit 108, all of whichmay be coupled by a system bus 110 or a similar mechanism. In someembodiments, computing device 100 may include other components and/orperipheral devices (e.g., detachable storage, printers, and so on).

Processor 102 may be one or more of any type of computer processingelement, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a co-processor (e.g.,a mathematics, graphics, or encryption co-processor), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a network processor, and/or a form of integratedcircuit or controller that performs processor operations. In some cases,processor 102 may be one or more single-core processors. In other cases,processor 102 may be one or more multi-core processors with multipleindependent processing units. Processor 102 may also include registermemory for temporarily storing instructions being executed and relateddata, as well as cache memory for temporarily storing recently-usedinstructions and data.

Memory 104 may be any form of computer-usable memory, including but notlimited to random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), andnon-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk drives, solid statedrives, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and/or tapestorage). Thus, memory 104 represents both main memory units, as well aslong-term storage. Other types of memory may include biological memory.

Memory 104 may store program instructions and/or data on which programinstructions may operate. By way of example, memory 104 may store theseprogram instructions on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, suchthat the instructions are executable by processor 102 to carry out anyof the methods, processes, or operations disclosed in this specificationor the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 , memory 104 may include firmware 104A, kernel 104B,and/or applications 104C. Firmware 104A may be program code used to bootor otherwise initiate some or all of computing device 100. Kernel 104Bmay be an operating system, including modules for memory management,scheduling and management of processes, input/output, and communication.Kernel 104B may also include device drivers that allow the operatingsystem to communicate with the hardware modules (e.g., memory units,networking interfaces, ports, and busses), of computing device 100.Applications 104C may be one or more user-space software programs, suchas web browsers or email clients, as well as any software libraries usedby these programs. Memory 104 may also store data used by these andother programs and applications.

Network interface 106 may take the form of one or more wirelineinterfaces, such as Ethernet (e.g., Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, andso on). Network interface 106 may also support communication over one ormore non-Ethernet media, such as coaxial cables or power lines, or overwide-area media, such as Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) ordigital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. Network interface 106 mayadditionally take the form of one or more wireless interfaces, such asIEEE 802.11 (Wifi), BLUETOOTH®, global positioning system (GPS), or awide-area wireless interface. However, other forms of physical layerinterfaces and other types of standard or proprietary communicationprotocols may be used over network interface 106. Furthermore, networkinterface 106 may comprise multiple physical interfaces. For instance,some embodiments of computing device 100 may include Ethernet,BLUETOOTH®, and Wifi interfaces.

Input/output unit 108 may facilitate user and peripheral deviceinteraction with computing device 100. Input/output unit 108 may includeone or more types of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, and so on. Similarly, input/output unit 108 may include one ormore types of output devices, such as a screen, monitor, printer, and/orone or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Additionally or alternatively,computing device 100 may communicate with other devices using auniversal serial bus (USB) or high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI) port interface, for example.

In some embodiments, one or more computing devices like computing device100 may be deployed to support an aPaaS architecture. The exact physicallocation, connectivity, and configuration of these computing devices maybe unknown and/or unimportant to client devices. Accordingly, thecomputing devices may be referred to as “cloud-based” devices that maybe housed at various remote data center locations.

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud-based server cluster 200 in accordance withexample embodiments. In FIG. 2 , operations of a computing device (e.g.,computing device 100) may be distributed between server devices 202,data storage 204, and routers 206, all of which may be connected bylocal cluster network 208. The number of server devices 202, datastorages 204, and routers 206 in server cluster 200 may depend on thecomputing task(s) and/or applications assigned to server cluster 200.

For example, server devices 202 can be configured to perform variouscomputing tasks of computing device 100. Thus, computing tasks can bedistributed among one or more of server devices 202. To the extent thatthese computing tasks can be performed in parallel, such a distributionof tasks may reduce the total time to complete these tasks and return aresult. For purpose of simplicity, both server cluster 200 andindividual server devices 202 may be referred to as a “server device.”This nomenclature should be understood to imply that one or moredistinct server devices, data storage devices, and cluster routers maybe involved in server device operations.

Data storage 204 may be data storage arrays that include drive arraycontrollers configured to manage read and write access to groups of harddisk drives and/or solid state drives. The drive array controllers,alone or in conjunction with server devices 202, may also be configuredto manage backup or redundant copies of the data stored in data storage204 to protect against drive failures or other types of failures thatprevent one or more of server devices 202 from accessing units of datastorage 204. Other types of memory aside from drives may be used.

Routers 206 may include networking equipment configured to provideinternal and external communications for server cluster 200. Forexample, routers 206 may include one or more packet-switching and/orrouting devices (including switches and/or gateways) configured toprovide (i) network communications between server devices 202 and datastorage 204 via local cluster network 208, and/or (ii) networkcommunications between the server cluster 200 and other devices viacommunication link 210 to network 212.

Additionally, the configuration of routers 206 can be based at least inpart on the data communication requirements of server devices 202 anddata storage 204, the latency and throughput of the local clusternetwork 208, the latency, throughput, and cost of communication link210, and/or other factors that may contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency and/or other design goals of thesystem architecture.

As a possible example, data storage 204 may include any form ofdatabase, such as a structured query language (SQL) database. Varioustypes of data structures may store the information in such a database,including but not limited to tables, arrays, lists, trees, and tuples.Furthermore, any databases in data storage 204 may be monolithic ordistributed across multiple physical devices.

Server devices 202 may be configured to transmit data to and receivedata from data storage 204. This transmission and retrieval may take theform of SQL queries or other types of database queries, and the outputof such queries, respectively. Additional text, images, video, and/oraudio may be included as well. Furthermore, server devices 202 mayorganize the received data into web page representations. Such arepresentation may take the form of a markup language, such as thehypertext markup language (HTML), the extensible markup language (XML),or some other standardized or proprietary format. Moreover, serverdevices 202 may have the capability of executing various types ofcomputerized scripting languages, such as but not limited to Perl,Python, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP),JAVASCRIPT®, and so on. Computer program code written in these languagesmay facilitate the providing of web pages to client devices, as well asclient device interaction with the web pages.

III. Example Remote Network Management Architecture

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments. This architecture includes three maincomponents, managed network 300, remote network management platform 320,and third-party networks 340, all connected by way of Internet 350.

Managed network 300 may be, for example, an enterprise network used byan entity for computing and communications tasks, as well as storage ofdata. Thus, managed network 300 may include client devices 302, serverdevices 304, routers 306, virtual machines 308, firewall 310, and/orproxy servers 312. Client devices 302 may be embodied by computingdevice 100, server devices 304 may be embodied by computing device 100or server cluster 200, and routers 306 may be any type of router,switch, or gateway.

Virtual machines 308 may be embodied by one or more of computing device100 or server cluster 200. In general, a virtual machine is an emulationof a computing system, and mimics the functionality (e.g., processor,memory, and communication resources) of a physical computer. Onephysical computing system, such as server cluster 200, may support up tothousands of individual virtual machines. In some embodiments, virtualmachines 308 may be managed by a centralized server device orapplication that facilitates allocation of physical computing resourcesto individual virtual machines, as well as performance and errorreporting. Enterprises often employ virtual machines in order toallocate computing resources in an efficient, as needed fashion.Providers of virtualized computing systems include VMWARE® andMICROSOFT®.

Firewall 310 may be one or more specialized routers or server devicesthat protect managed network 300 from unauthorized attempts to accessthe devices, applications, and services therein, while allowingauthorized communication that is initiated from managed network 300.Firewall 310 may also provide intrusion detection, web filtering, virusscanning, application-layer gateways, and other applications orservices. In some embodiments not shown in FIG. 3 , managed network 300may include one or more virtual private network (VPN) gateways withwhich it communicates with remote network management platform 320 (seebelow).

Managed network 300 may also include one or more proxy servers 312. Anembodiment of proxy servers 312 may be a server device that facilitatescommunication and movement of data between managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320, and third-party networks 340. Inparticular, proxy servers 312 may be able to establish and maintainsecure communication sessions with one or more computational instancesof remote network management platform 320. By way of such a session,remote network management platform 320 may be able to discover andmanage aspects of the architecture and configuration of managed network300 and its components. Possibly with the assistance of proxy servers312, remote network management platform 320 may also be able to discoverand manage aspects of third-party networks 340 that are used by managednetwork 300.

Firewalls, such as firewall 310, typically deny all communicationsessions that are incoming by way of Internet 350, unless such a sessionwas ultimately initiated from behind the firewall (i.e., from a deviceon managed network 300) or the firewall has been explicitly configuredto support the session. By placing proxy servers 312 behind firewall 310(e.g., within managed network 300 and protected by firewall 310), proxyservers 312 may be able to initiate these communication sessions throughfirewall 310. Thus, firewall 310 might not have to be specificallyconfigured to support incoming sessions from remote network managementplatform 320, thereby avoiding potential security risks to managednetwork 300.

In some cases, managed network 300 may consist of a few devices and asmall number of networks. In other deployments, managed network 300 mayspan multiple physical locations and include hundreds of networks andhundreds of thousands of devices. Thus, the architecture depicted inFIG. 3 is capable of scaling up or down by orders of magnitude.

Furthermore, depending on the size, architecture, and connectivity ofmanaged network 300, a varying number of proxy servers 312 may bedeployed therein. For example, each one of proxy servers 312 may beresponsible for communicating with remote network management platform320 regarding a portion of managed network 300. Alternatively oradditionally, sets of two or more proxy servers may be assigned to sucha portion of managed network 300 for purposes of load balancing,redundancy, and/or high availability.

Remote network management platform 320 is a hosted environment thatprovides aPaaS services to users, particularly to the operators ofmanaged network 300. These services may take the form of web-basedportals, for instance. Thus, a user can securely access remote networkmanagement platform 320 from, for instance, client devices 302, orpotentially from a client device outside of managed network 300. By wayof the web-based portals, users may design, test, and deployapplications, generate reports, view analytics, and perform other tasks.

As shown in FIG. 3 , remote network management platform 320 includesfour computational instances 322, 324, 326, and 328. Each of theseinstances may represent one or more server devices and/or one or moredatabases that provide a set of web portals, services, and applications(e.g., a wholly-functioning aPaaS system) available to a particularcustomer. In some cases, a single customer may use multiplecomputational instances. For example, managed network 300 may be anenterprise customer of remote network management platform 320, and mayuse computational instances 322, 324, and 326. The reason for providingmultiple instances to one customer is that the customer may wish toindependently develop, test, and deploy its applications and services.Thus, computational instance 322 may be dedicated to applicationdevelopment related to managed network 300, computational instance 324may be dedicated to testing these applications, and computationalinstance 326 may be dedicated to the live operation of testedapplications and services. A computational instance may also be referredto as a hosted instance, a remote instance, a customer instance, or bysome other designation. Any application deployed onto a computationalinstance may be a scoped application, in that its access to databaseswithin the computational instance can be restricted to certain elementstherein (e.g., one or more particular database tables or particular rowswith one or more database tables).

For purpose of clarity, the disclosure herein refers to the physicalhardware, software, and arrangement thereof as a “computationalinstance.” Note that users may colloquially refer to the graphical userinterfaces provided thereby as “instances.” But unless it is definedotherwise herein, a “computational instance” is a computing systemdisposed within remote network management platform 320.

The multi-instance architecture of remote network management platform320 is in contrast to conventional multi-tenant architectures, overwhich multi-instance architectures exhibit several advantages. Inmulti-tenant architectures, data from different customers (e.g.,enterprises) are comingled in a single database. While these customers'data are separate from one another, the separation is enforced by thesoftware that operates the single database. As a consequence, a securitybreach in this system may impact all customers' data, creatingadditional risk, especially for entities subject to governmental,healthcare, and/or financial regulation. Furthermore, any databaseoperations that impact one customer will likely impact all customerssharing that database. Thus, if there is an outage due to hardware orsoftware errors, this outage affects all such customers. Likewise, ifthe database is to be upgraded to meet the needs of one customer, itwill be unavailable to all customers during the upgrade process. Often,such maintenance windows will be long, due to the size of the shareddatabase.

In contrast, the multi-instance architecture provides each customer withits own database in a dedicated computing instance. This preventscomingling of customer data, and allows each instance to beindependently managed. For example, when one customer's instanceexperiences an outage due to errors or an upgrade, other computationalinstances are not impacted. Maintenance down time is limited because thedatabase only contains one customer's data. Further, the simpler designof the multi-instance architecture allows redundant copies of eachcustomer database and instance to be deployed in a geographicallydiverse fashion. This facilitates high availability, where the liveversion of the customer's instance can be moved when faults are detectedor maintenance is being performed.

In some embodiments, remote network management platform 320 may includeone or more central instances, controlled by the entity that operatesthis platform. Like a computational instance, a central instance mayinclude some number of physical or virtual servers and database devices.Such a central instance may serve as a repository for data that can beshared amongst at least some of the computational instances. Forinstance, definitions of common security threats that could occur on thecomputational instances, software packages that are commonly discoveredon the computational instances, and/or an application store forapplications that can be deployed to the computational instances mayreside in a central instance. Computational instances may communicatewith central instances by way of well-defined interfaces in order toobtain this data.

In order to support multiple computational instances in an efficientfashion, remote network management platform 320 may implement aplurality of these instances on a single hardware platform. For example,when the aPaaS system is implemented on a server cluster such as servercluster 200, it may operate a virtual machine that dedicates varyingamounts of computational, storage, and communication resources toinstances. But full virtualization of server cluster 200 might not benecessary, and other mechanisms may be used to separate instances. Insome examples, each instance may have a dedicated account and one ormore dedicated databases on server cluster 200. Alternatively,computational instance 322 may span multiple physical devices.

In some cases, a single server cluster of remote network managementplatform 320 may support multiple independent enterprises. Furthermore,as described below, remote network management platform 320 may includemultiple server clusters deployed in geographically diverse data centersin order to facilitate load balancing, redundancy, and/or highavailability.

Third-party networks 340 may be remote server devices (e.g., a pluralityof server clusters such as server cluster 200) that can be used foroutsourced computational, data storage, communication, and servicehosting operations. These servers may be virtualized (i.e., the serversmay be virtual machines). Examples of third-party networks 340 mayinclude AMAZON WEB SERVICES® and MICROSOFT® AZURE®. Like remote networkmanagement platform 320, multiple server clusters supporting third-partynetworks 340 may be deployed at geographically diverse locations forpurposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

Managed network 300 may use one or more of third-party networks 340 todeploy applications and services to its clients and customers. Forinstance, if managed network 300 provides online music streamingservices, third-party networks 340 may store the music files and provideweb interface and streaming capabilities. In this way, the enterprise ofmanaged network 300 does not have to build and maintain its own serversfor these operations.

Remote network management platform 320 may include modules thatintegrate with third-party networks 340 to expose virtual machines andmanaged services therein to managed network 300. The modules may allowusers to request virtual resources and provide flexible reporting forthird-party networks 340. In order to establish this functionality, auser from managed network 300 might first establish an account withthird-party networks 340, and request a set of associated resources.Then, the user may enter the account information into the appropriatemodules of remote network management platform 320. These modules maythen automatically discover the manageable resources in the account, andalso provide reports related to usage, performance, and billing.

Internet 350 may represent a portion of the global Internet. However,Internet 350 may alternatively represent a different type of network,such as a private wide-area or local-area packet-switched network.

FIG. 4 further illustrates the communication environment between managednetwork 300 and computational instance 322, and introduces additionalfeatures and alternative embodiments. In FIG. 4 , computational instance322 is replicated across data centers 400A and 400B. These data centersmay be geographically distant from one another, perhaps in differentcities or different countries. Each data center includes supportequipment that facilitates communication with managed network 300, aswell as remote users.

In data center 400A, network traffic to and from external devices flowseither through VPN gateway 402A or firewall 404A. VPN gateway 402A maybe peered with VPN gateway 412 of managed network 300 by way of asecurity protocol such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) orTransport Layer Security (TLS). Firewall 404A may be configured to allowaccess from authorized users, such as user 414 and remote user 416, andto deny access to unauthorized users. By way of firewall 404A, theseusers may access computational instance 322, and possibly othercomputational instances. Load balancer 406A may be used to distributetraffic amongst one or more physical or virtual server devices that hostcomputational instance 322. Load balancer 406A may simplify user accessby hiding the internal configuration of data center 400A, (e.g.,computational instance 322) from client devices. For instance, ifcomputational instance 322 includes multiple physical or virtualcomputing devices that share access to multiple databases, load balancer406A may distribute network traffic and processing tasks across thesecomputing devices and databases so that no one computing device ordatabase is significantly busier than the others. In some embodiments,computational instance 322 may include VPN gateway 402A, firewall 404A,and load balancer 406A.

Data center 400B may include its own versions of the components in datacenter 400A. Thus, VPN gateway 402B, firewall 404B, and load balancer406B may perform the same or similar operations as VPN gateway 402A,firewall 404A, and load balancer 406A, respectively. Further, by way ofreal-time or near-real-time database replication and/or otheroperations, computational instance 322 may exist simultaneously in datacenters 400A and 400B.

Data centers 400A and 400B as shown in FIG. 4 may facilitate redundancyand high availability. In the configuration of FIG. 4 , data center 400Ais active and data center 400B is passive. Thus, data center 400A isserving all traffic to and from managed network 300, while the versionof computational instance 322 in data center 400B is being updated innear-real-time. Other configurations, such as one in which both datacenters are active, may be supported.

Should data center 400A fail in some fashion or otherwise becomeunavailable to users, data center 400B can take over as the active datacenter. For example, domain name system (DNS) servers that associate adomain name of computational instance 322 with one or more InternetProtocol (IP) addresses of data center 400A may re-associate the domainname with one or more IP addresses of data center 400B. After thisre-association completes (which may take less than one second or severalseconds), users may access computational instance 322 by way of datacenter 400B.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a possible configuration of managed network 300.As noted above, proxy servers 312 and user 414 may access computationalinstance 322 through firewall 310. Proxy servers 312 may also accessconfiguration items 410. In FIG. 4 , configuration items 410 may referto any or all of client devices 302, server devices 304, routers 306,and virtual machines 308, any applications or services executingthereon, as well as relationships between devices, applications, andservices. Thus, the term “configuration items” may be shorthand for anyphysical or virtual device, or any application or service remotelydiscoverable or managed by computational instance 322, or relationshipsbetween discovered devices, applications, and services. Configurationitems may be represented in a configuration management database (CMDB)of computational instance 322.

As noted above, VPN gateway 412 may provide a dedicated VPN to VPNgateway 402A. Such a VPN may be helpful when there is a significantamount of traffic between managed network 300 and computational instance322, or security policies otherwise suggest or require use of a VPNbetween these sites. In some embodiments, any device in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 that directly communicates via theVPN is assigned a public IP address. Other devices in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 may be assigned private IPaddresses (e.g., IP addresses selected from the 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255or 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255 ranges, represented in shorthand assubnets 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16, respectively).

IV. Example Device, Application, and Service Discovery

In order for remote network management platform 320 to administer thedevices, applications, and services of managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320 may first determine what devices arepresent in managed network 300, the configurations and operationalstatuses of these devices, and the applications and services provided bythe devices, and well as the relationships between discovered devices,applications, and services. As noted above, each device, application,service, and relationship may be referred to as a configuration item.The process of defining configuration items within managed network 300is referred to as discovery, and may be facilitated at least in part byproxy servers 312.

For purpose of the embodiments herein, an “application” may refer to oneor more processes, threads, programs, client modules, server modules, orany other software that executes on a device or group of devices. A“service” may refer to a high-level capability provided by multipleapplications executing on one or more devices working in conjunctionwith one another. For example, a high-level web service may involvemultiple web application server threads executing on one device andaccessing information from a database application that executes onanother device.

FIG. 5A provides a logical depiction of how configuration items can bediscovered, as well as how information related to discoveredconfiguration items can be stored. For sake of simplicity, remotenetwork management platform 320, third-party networks 340, and Internet350 are not shown.

In FIG. 5A, CMDB 500 and task list 502 are stored within computationalinstance 322. Computational instance 322 may transmit discovery commandsto proxy servers 312. In response, proxy servers 312 may transmit probesto various devices, applications, and services in managed network 300.These devices, applications, and services may transmit responses toproxy servers 312, and proxy servers 312 may then provide informationregarding discovered configuration items to CMDB 500 for storagetherein. Configuration items stored in CMDB 500 represent theenvironment of managed network 300.

Task list 502 represents a list of activities that proxy servers 312 areto perform on behalf of computational instance 322. As discovery takesplace, task list 502 is populated. Proxy servers 312 repeatedly querytask list 502, obtain the next task therein, and perform this task untiltask list 502 is empty or another stopping condition has been reached.

To facilitate discovery, proxy servers 312 may be configured withinformation regarding one or more subnets in managed network 300 thatare reachable by way of proxy servers 312. For instance, proxy servers312 may be given the IP address range 192.168.0/24 as a subnet. Then,computational instance 322 may store this information in CMDB 500 andplace tasks in task list 502 for discovery of devices at each of theseaddresses.

FIG. 5A also depicts devices, applications, and services in managednetwork 300 as configuration items 504, 506, 508, 510, and 512. As notedabove, these configuration items represent a set of physical and/orvirtual devices (e.g., client devices, server devices, routers, orvirtual machines), applications executing thereon (e.g., web servers,email servers, databases, or storage arrays), relationshipstherebetween, as well as services that involve multiple individualconfiguration items.

Placing the tasks in task list 502 may trigger or otherwise cause proxyservers 312 to begin discovery. Alternatively or additionally, discoverymay be manually triggered or automatically triggered based on triggeringevents (e.g., discovery may automatically begin once per day at aparticular time).

In general, discovery may proceed in four logical phases: scanning,classification, identification, and exploration. Each phase of discoveryinvolves various types of probe messages being transmitted by proxyservers 312 to one or more devices in managed network 300. The responsesto these probes may be received and processed by proxy servers 312, andrepresentations thereof may be transmitted to CMDB 500. Thus, each phasecan result in more configuration items being discovered and stored inCMDB 500.

In the scanning phase, proxy servers 312 may probe each IP address inthe specified range of IP addresses for open Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to determinethe general type of device. The presence of such open ports at an IPaddress may indicate that a particular application is operating on thedevice that is assigned the IP address, which in turn may identify theoperating system used by the device. For example, if TCP port 135 isopen, then the device is likely executing a WINDOWS® operating system.Similarly, if TCP port 22 is open, then the device is likely executing aUNIX® operating system, such as LINUX®. If UDP port 161 is open, thenthe device may be able to be further identified through the SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP). Other possibilities exist. Once thepresence of a device at a particular IP address and its open ports havebeen discovered, these configuration items are saved in CMDB 500.

In the classification phase, proxy servers 312 may further probe eachdiscovered device to determine the version of its operating system. Theprobes used for a particular device are based on information gatheredabout the devices during the scanning phase. For example, if a device isfound with TCP port 22 open, a set of UNIX®-specific probes may be used.Likewise, if a device is found with TCP port 135 open, a set ofWINDOWS®-specific probes may be used. For either case, an appropriateset of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxy servers 312 tocarry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312 logging on, orotherwise accessing information from the particular device. Forinstance, if TCP port 22 is open, proxy servers 312 may be instructed toinitiate a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the particular device andobtain information about the operating system thereon from particularlocations in the file system. Based on this information, the operatingsystem may be determined. As an example, a UNIX® device with TCP port 22open may be classified as AIX®, HPUX, LINUX®, MACOS®, or SOLARIS®. Thisclassification information may be stored as one or more configurationitems in CMDB 500.

In the identification phase, proxy servers 312 may determine specificdetails about a classified device. The probes used during this phase maybe based on information gathered about the particular devices during theclassification phase. For example, if a device was classified as LINUX®,a set of LINUX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise, if a device wasclassified as WINDOWS® 2012, as a set of WINDOWS®-2012-specific probesmay be used. As was the case for the classification phase, anappropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxyservers 312 to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312reading information from the particular device, such as basicinput/output system (BIOS) information, serial numbers, networkinterface information, media access control address(es) assigned tothese network interface(s), IP address(es) used by the particular deviceand so on. This identification information may be stored as one or moreconfiguration items in CMDB 500.

In the exploration phase, proxy servers 312 may determine furtherdetails about the operational state of a classified device. The probesused during this phase may be based on information gathered about theparticular devices during the classification phase and/or theidentification phase. Again, an appropriate set of tasks may be placedin task list 502 for proxy servers 312 to carry out. These tasks mayresult in proxy servers 312 reading additional information from theparticular device, such as processor information, memory information,lists of running processes (applications), and so on. Once more, thediscovered information may be stored as one or more configuration itemsin CMDB 500.

Running discovery on a network device, such as a router, may utilizeSNMP. Instead of or in addition to determining a list of runningprocesses or other application-related information, discovery maydetermine additional subnets known to the router and the operationalstate of the router's network interfaces (e.g., active, inactive, queuelength, number of packets dropped, etc.). The IP addresses of theadditional subnets may be candidates for further discovery procedures.Thus, discovery may progress iteratively or recursively.

Once discovery completes, a snapshot representation of each discovereddevice, application, and service is available in CMDB 500. For example,after discovery, operating system version, hardware configuration andnetwork configuration details for client devices, server devices, androuters in managed network 300, as well as applications executingthereon, may be stored. This collected information may be presented to auser in various ways to allow the user to view the hardware compositionand operational status of devices, as well as the characteristics ofservices that span multiple devices and applications.

Furthermore, CMDB 500 may include entries regarding dependencies andrelationships between configuration items. More specifically, anapplication that is executing on a particular server device, as well asthe services that rely on this application, may be represented as suchin CMDB 500. For instance, suppose that a database application isexecuting on a server device, and that this database application is usedby a new employee onboarding service as well as a payroll service. Thus,if the server device is taken out of operation for maintenance, it isclear that the employee onboarding service and payroll service will beimpacted. Likewise, the dependencies and relationships betweenconfiguration items may be able to represent the services impacted whena particular router fails.

In general, dependencies and relationships between configuration itemsmay be displayed on a web-based interface and represented in ahierarchical fashion. Thus, adding, changing, or removing suchdependencies and relationships may be accomplished by way of thisinterface.

Furthermore, users from managed network 300 may develop workflows thatallow certain coordinated activities to take place across multiplediscovered devices. For instance, an IT workflow might allow the user tochange the common administrator password to all discovered LINUX®devices in a single operation.

In order for discovery to take place in the manner described above,proxy servers 312, CMDB 500, and/or one or more credential stores may beconfigured with credentials for one or more of the devices to bediscovered. Credentials may include any type of information needed inorder to access the devices. These may include userid/password pairs,certificates, and so on. In some embodiments, these credentials may bestored in encrypted fields of CMDB 500. Proxy servers 312 may containthe decryption key for the credentials so that proxy servers 312 can usethese credentials to log on to or otherwise access devices beingdiscovered.

The discovery process is depicted as a flow chart in FIG. 5B. At block520, the task list in the computational instance is populated, forinstance, with a range of IP addresses. At block 522, the scanning phasetakes place. Thus, the proxy servers probe the IP addresses for devicesusing these IP addresses, and attempt to determine the operating systemsthat are executing on these devices. At block 524, the classificationphase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operatingsystem version of the discovered devices. At block 526, theidentification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determinethe hardware and/or software configuration of the discovered devices. Atblock 528, the exploration phase takes place. The proxy servers attemptto determine the operational state and applications executing on thediscovered devices. At block 530, further editing of the configurationitems representing the discovered devices and applications may takeplace. This editing may be automated and/or manual in nature.

The blocks represented in FIG. 5B are for purpose of example. Discoverymay be a highly configurable procedure that can have more or fewerphases, and the operations of each phase may vary. In some cases, one ormore phases may be customized, or may otherwise deviate from theexemplary descriptions above.

V. Example Operating Environment

The embodiments herein generally relate to managed networks, operated byenterprises or other entities, that employ a remote network managementplatform as described above. Thus, the remote network managementplatform may discover and inventory the hardware, software, and servicesdeployed on and provided by the managed network. This data may be storedin the remote network management platform (e.g., in a CMDB) asconfiguration items.

A noted above, the configuration items may represent hardware, software,and services deployed on or available by way of the managed network. Forexample, individual hardware components (e.g., computing devices,virtual servers, databases, routers, etc.) may be represented ashardware configuration items, while the applications installed and/orexecuting thereon may be represented and software configuration items.

The relationship between a software configuration item installed orexecuting on a hardware configuration item may take various forms, suchas “is hosted on”, “runs on” or “depends on”. Thus, a databaseapplication installed on a server device may have the relationship “ishosted on” with the server device to indicate that the databaseapplication is hosted on the server device. In some embodiments, theserver device may have a reciprocal relationship of “used by” with thedatabase application to indicate that the server device is used by thedatabase application. These relationships may be automatically foundusing the discovery procedures described above, though it is possible tomanually set relationships as well.

The relationship between a service and one or more softwareconfiguration items may also take various forms. As an example, a webservice may include a web server software configuration item and adatabase application software configuration item, each installed ondifferent hardware configuration items. The web service may have a“depends on” relationship with both of these software configurationitems, while the software configuration items have a “used by”reciprocal relationship with the web service. Services might not be ableto be fully specified by discovery procedures, and instead may rely onservice mapping (e.g., probing configuration files and/or carrying outnetwork traffic analysis to determine service level relationshipsbetween configuration items) and possibly some extent of manualconfiguration.

Regardless of how relationship information is obtained, it can bevaluable for the operation of a managed network. Notably, IT personalcan quickly determine where certain software applications are deployed,and what configuration items make up a service. This allows for rapidpinpointing of root causes of service outages or degradation. Forexample, if two different services are suffering from slow responsetimes, relationships in the CMDB can be queried to help determine thatthe root cause is a database application that is used by both serviceshaving high processor utilization. Thus, IT personal can address thedatabase application rather than waste time considering the health andperformance of other configuration items that make up the services.

A. Example Software Vulnerabilities

The vulnerabilities discussed herein may relate to software applicationsdeployed throughout a managed network. For purposes of this discussion,the “application vulnerabilities” described herein may refer tovulnerabilities found in custom applications developed by and/orspecifically for deployment on a particular enterprise's managednetwork. In contrast, “infrastructure vulnerabilities” may refer tovulnerabilities found in commercial applications, operating systems, andhardware used by the managed network. The differences between customapplications and infrastructure are described in more detail below.

Exploitation of a vulnerability may result in a negative impact to thedata confidentiality, integrity and/or availability of one or moreapplications, services, or computing devices. Examples of commonvulnerabilities include SQL injection (e.g., execution of unauthorizedSQL code in a database), buffer overflow (e.g., a program writingoutside the boundaries of a buffer resulting corrupted data or executionof unauthorized code), and numeric overflow (e.g., writing a value solarge to an integer or floating point variable that it is interpreted asa negative number instead, which can lead to unexpected behaviors).

Such vulnerabilities may be associated with different severities. Forexample, a first hypothetical vulnerability may be that opening acertain type of file in a word processing application provides aremotely-exploitable mechanism through which an attacker can gain accessto the computing device on which the word processing application isinstalled. This would likely be viewed a critical vulnerability, as itcould lead to unauthorized access to confidential data. On the otherhand, a second hypothetical vulnerability may be that providing certaininput to a web browsing application may cause the screen of thecomputing device on which the web browsing application is installed togo blank. This would likely be viewed as a non-critical vulnerability,as it is a mere annoyance to the user. Severity may be chosen, forexample, on a spectrum from critical (most severe), to high, to medium,to low (least severe).

Other factors may also be provided, such as an exploitability factorthat indicates how easy or hard the vulnerability is to exploit and/or adiscoverability factor that indicates how easy or hard it is for one todiscern existence of the vulnerability. Further, an exposure factor mayrepresent how available the vulnerability is to those who might want toexploit it. For example, an Internet-facing device has more exposure tovulnerabilities than a device internal to a managed network. Additionalfactors may be used.

It should be noted that vulnerabilities are not the same as activesecurity threats. Vulnerabilities indicate that a problem has beenidentified independent of whether the vulnerability has been actuallyexploited. Active security threats, on the other hand, are ongoingexploitations that often require immediate attention. For example, alive distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack should be addressed inreal time, regardless of whether any vulnerabilities that it uses areknown.

Thus, software developers and IT professionals address vulnerabilitiesas time allows based on their severities and other factors. Criticalseverity vulnerabilities may be targeted for resolution within 30 days,for example, while high severity vulnerabilities may be targeted forresolution within 90 days, and so on. Vulnerabilities with lower-levelseverities may be addressed on an as-time-permits basis or might not bescheduled for resolution at all, as these non-critical vulnerabilitiesmay be deemed low enough risk that security managers should be spendingtheir time carrying out more important tasks instead.

Addressing a vulnerability may occur in various ways. In the case ofsoftware applications, the individual or group associated withdeveloping the application with the vulnerability may produce aninstallable patch or a new version of the software application thatresolves the vulnerability. Alternatively, the individual, group, oranother party may identify a workaround to the vulnerability, such assettings that mitigate or prevent the vulnerability from occurring. Insome cases, IT professionals may disable software applications withunpatched vulnerabilities or issue warnings to users until a patch, newversion, or workaround is available. In extreme situations, vulnerablesoftware applications may be temporarily or permanently removed fromimpacted computing devices.

Nonetheless, once a resolution is available, IT professionals mayschedule the resolution to be applied in accordance with the severity(and possibly other factors) of the vulnerability. For example, the ITprofessionals may schedule a patch to be pushed out to impactedcomputing devices once the patch is available.

B. Example Vulnerability Detection Tools

In order to locate vulnerabilities, vulnerability detectiontools—software that scans applications, devices, or networks seekingevidence of known vulnerabilities—may be used. For purposes of thisdiscussion, vulnerability detection tools are divided into threetypes—those that perform static code analysis, those that performdynamic code analysis, and those that operate against deployedapplications. In various embodiments, other types of vulnerabilitydetection tools may be used, including those that involve two or allthree of these techniques.

Static code analysis involves attempting to detect vulnerabilities inapplication code (with the emphasis herein being on custom applicationcode) without actually executing the code. Static code analysis isusually performed on source code, but sometimes can be performed onobject or executable code as well. Techniques used in static codeanalysis include abstract interpretation (e.g., modeling the code as astate machine approximation of its functions and determining the effectthat each statement in the code has on this state machine), data flowanalysis (e.g., determining the impact that each block of code has onthe program), Hoare logic (e.g., modeling units of code with theirrespective pre-conditions and post-conditions to determine programbehavior), and symbolic execution (e.g., simulating execution of theprogram to determine what input causes parts of the program to execute)among others. Example vulnerability detection tools that use static codeanalysis include those from VERACODE®, FORTIFY®, and WHITEHAT®, amongothers.

Dynamic code analysis, on the other hand, involves examining anapplication (e.g., a custom application) while it is executing or itsexecution is being simulated. Before this, the application may beinstrumented to facilitate the analysis, and a set of inputs thatprovide sufficient coverage of all possible inputs may be identified.These inputs may be integrated into test cases that are applied to theapplication. With the instrumentation and the set of inputs, a dynamiccode analysis tool may be able to detect memory errors (e.g., out ofbounds accesses, memory leaks), race conditions, and localize defects byexamining which test cases fail and which pass. Dynamic code analysistools include VERACODE® and APPSCAN®.

Vulnerability scanners probe deployed applications for versions withknown defects or unpatched versions deployed on the managed network.Some vulnerability scanners may also detect misconfigurations (e.g.,open mail relays), weak passwords, unnecessary open TCP or UDP ports,and other issues that may be specified to a particular version of theapplication. These scanners may employ vulnerability databases toperform numerous tests on each application, and may also supportscripting languages that permit customized vulnerability probing.Example vulnerability scanners include NESSUS®, QUALYSGUARD®, andRAPID7®.

As is described in more detail below, the output of any of thesevulnerability detection tools can be integrated with data from the CMDBto detect the overall security threat score of each vulnerability.

C. Commercial and Custom Software Applications

For purposes of clarity, this disclosure divides software applicationsdeployed on a managed network into two broad categories: “commercial”and “custom.” Commercial applications may also be referred to asinfrastructure applications or third-party applications, and customapplications may also be referred to as homegrown or first-partyapplications.

Commercial software applications are typically acquired fromthird-parties and deployed on the managed network. Examples includeoffice productivity, database, web server, email, photo editing, andsoftware development applications just to name a few. These applicationsmay be installed and execute on one or more hardware configuration itemsof the managed network. Further, these applications may also bediscovered as software configuration items. Relationships betweenapplications, services, and hardware configuration items may also berepresented in a CMDB. Commercial applications are usually deployed asexecutable code or object code (e.g., machine code or byte code), andthe managed network might not have access to the source code thereof.

Custom software applications are typically developed as a whole or inpart for exclusive use by the managed network. For example, anenterprise may determine that it needs to have a custom IT, HR, oraccounting application developed, and may have software engineeringpersonnel develop and maintain such an application. Thus, the managednetwork has access to not only object or executable versions of customapplications, but their source code as well. Like commercialapplications, custom applications may be discovered and theirrelationships mapped to services and hardware configuration items.

In some environments, a hybrid of custom and commercial application maybe possible. Some commercial applications allow modification of theirsource code directly (e.g., open source applications), or may facilitatenew features through a plugin architecture. Thus, software engineeringpersonnel may develop new source code that can be compiled or otherwiseintegrated into a commercial application. For purposes of thisdisclosure, such hybrid applications can be considered to be customapplications as well.

The focus herein is on detecting vulnerabilities in custom applications.That is, using vulnerability detection tools to determine whether sourceor executable code specifically developed by or for use on a managednetwork has any vulnerabilities, and providing results from thesevulnerability detection tools to a database (e.g., the CMDB for themanaged network) within the remote network management platform.

Conversely, a vulnerability detection tool that scans a customapplication installed on one or more computing devices of the managednetwork (along with other applications, the operating system, databasesoftware, and utilities for example) may discover a vulnerabilitytherein and provide a report of the vulnerability to the remote networkmanagement platform (e.g., written to the CMDB or another database inthe remote network management platform).

Since the CMDB has—or at least is expected to have—a comprehensivelisting of hardware configuration items disposed within the managednetwork, the overall security threat score of a vulnerability can berapidly identified. For instance, a vulnerability that is in a softwareapplication installed on just one computing device may be associatedwith a low overall security threat score even if the vulnerability hashigh severity. On the other hand, a vulnerability of moderate severitycan have a high security threat score if the software that it is foundin is installed on hundreds or thousands of computing devices in themanaged network. Other factors described above—exploitability, whetheran exploit is publicly known, and exposure to the Internet, forexample—may also be taken into account.

In either of these cases, the remote network management platform mayproactively notify (i) the software engineering department of themanaged network so that it is aware of the vulnerability and can takethe appropriate steps to address the vulnerability (e.g., revising thesource code and providing a patch to the custom application), and (ii)the IT department of the managed network so that it is also aware of thevulnerability and can determine how and when to apply the patch toimpacted configuration items.

The ability to determine the security threat score of a customapplication based on CMDB data is a significant improvement invulnerability detection technology. Without a CMDB mapping softwareapplications to computing devices on which they are installed, an ITprofessionals may not be able to determine how widely spread thevulnerability is in the managed network. Since IT professionals areoften busy addressing multiple known vulnerabilities and other issues atany point in time, the ability to prioritize their work based onsecurity threat score is important.

Furthermore, the embodiments described above allow vulnerabilityinformation to flow in two directions within an organization. Softwareengineers in an enterprise may use static or dynamic code analysis toolsto identify vulnerabilities in their applications that are deployed inthe enterprise's managed network. This information is provided to theremote network management platform, and the security threat score ofidentified vulnerabilities can be assessed and reported to theenterprise's IT professionals. Likewise, the IT professionals may usevulnerability scanners on applications deployed in the managed network.This information is provided to the remote network management platform,and the security threat score of identified vulnerabilities can beassessed and reported to the software engineers.

FIG. 6 provides a logical depiction of these procedural aspects relatedto custom application development, deployment thereof, and identifyingassociated vulnerabilities. Particularly, enterprise 600 operates amanaged network and includes software engineering 602 and ITprofessionals 604. Software engineering 602 may be an individual, group,or department that develops custom applications for IT professionals604, which in turn deploy the custom applications to the managednetwork.

An example development procedure for software engineering 602 mayinclude phases of: source code development 610, custom applicationbuilding 612 (e.g., compiling the source code to executable or objectcode and integrating it with other assets such as images, audio, orvideo), testing 614 (verifying that the software application does whatit is supposed to do in the manner intended), and releasing 616(providing the software application to IT professionals 604 fordeployment on the managed network).

As indicated by the arrow from testing 614 to source code development610, phases 610, 612, and 614 may be repeated some number of times untilsoftware engineering 602 is satisfied that the software application isready for release. Further, as indicated by the arrow from releasing 616to source code development 610, phases 610, 612, 614, and 616 may alsorepeat some number of times in order to address defects found afterrelease as well as to add new features to the software application.

Regardless, at some point, software engineering 602 hands off the customapplication to IT professionals 604, as indicated by arrow 630. Then, ITprofessionals 604 engage in custom application deployment 620, which mayinvolve installing the custom application on some number of hardwareconfiguration items, such as hardware configuration items 622 and 624.

Under the model depicted in FIG. 6 , vulnerability information can flowin either or both directions between software engineering 602 and ITprofessionals 604, as indicated by arrows 630 and 632.

In one possible scenario, a custom application is developed by softwareengineering 602 and deployed on the managed network. At some point afterthis deployment, software engineering 602 may use a vulnerabilitydetection tool to determine that there is a vulnerability in the customapplication, and notify IT professionals 604. Alternatively, ITprofessionals 604 may use the same or a different vulnerabilitydetection tool to determine that there is a vulnerability in a deployedcustom application, and notify software engineering 602.

In some cases, one or more vulnerability detection tools may beintegrated to some extent with the remote network management platform.In these cases, the remote network management platform may receiveoutput from a vulnerability detection tools, and store the output in adatabase (e.g., the CMDB or another database). The remote networkmanagement platform may calculate security threat scores associated withvulnerabilities identified in this output based on assessments from thevulnerability detection tools as well as configuration item informationfrom the CMDB, and then notify the appropriate parties of thesevulnerabilities.

VI. Example Vulnerability Management Architecture

FIG. 7 depicts a vulnerability management architecture 700. Architecture700 is a variation of that of FIG. 3 , but focuses on vulnerabilitymanagement. Thus, architecture 700 includes managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320, and vulnerability detection cloudservice 706, all connected by Internet 350.

Managed network 300 is largely the same as shown in FIG. 3 , but justshowing configuration items 702, vulnerability scanner 704, and proxyservers 312. Each of configuration items 702 may represent a virtual orphysical computing device and/or a software application installed uponsuch a computing device. Vulnerability scanner 704 may be a dedicatedunit of software and/or a virtual or physical computing device that isdeployed within managed network 300 to detect vulnerabilities relatingto configuration items 702. Proxy servers 312 may take on the same orsimilar functionality as described above.

In some embodiments, vulnerability scanner 704 may include a softwareagent that is deployed on multiple endpoints, where endpoints arerepresented within one or more of configuration items 702. In these orother embodiments, vulnerability scanner 704 may include one or moresoftware applications deployed on one or more dedicated computingdevices. In either situation, vulnerability scanner 704 may scan orotherwise remotely access configuration items 702 to detectvulnerabilities. For example, vulnerability scanner 704 may scanconfiguration items 702—e.g., probe for open TCP/IP ports on computingdevices, and/or log on to computing devices to determine the operatingsystem, software applications installed thereon, and versions thereof.In some embodiments, vulnerability scanner 704 may store the results ofthese scans locally, or may transmit the results to vulnerabilitydetection cloud service 706. Thus, the combination of vulnerabilityscanner 704 and vulnerability detection cloud service 706 may make upwhat has been referred to herein as a vulnerability detection tool.

Remote network management platform 320 is the same or similar to that ofFIG. 3 , but showing only one computational instance, computationalinstance 322, for sake of simplicity. Computational instance 322includes CMDB 500. As described above, CMDB 500 may includerepresentations of configuration items 702, including multipleattributes for each.

Vulnerability detection cloud service 706 is an optional component thatmight not be present when vulnerability scanner 704 stores the resultsof scans locally. However, when present, vulnerability detection cloudservice 706 receives these results, and may store and assess theresults. For instance, vulnerability detection cloud service 706 mayidentify vulnerabilities based on the operating system and versionthereof, operating system configuration, software application andversion thereof, software configuration, and possible other metrics aswell. The identified vulnerabilities may be stored and then madeavailable by way of an interface, such as a web-based graphical userinterface, a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) interface, an XMLinterface, or some other form of interface.

In particular, computational instance 322 may be configured to obtainthe identified vulnerabilities from vulnerability detection cloudservice 706, or from vulnerability scanner 704 directly or by way ofproxy servers 312. As discussed in more detail below, computationalinstance 322 may combine this information with additional informationfrom CMDB 500 to provide an overall security threat score pervulnerability. These security threat scores may be used to prioritizehow security managers of managed network 300 address vulnerabilities.For custom applications, these security threat scores may also be usedto prioritize how software engineers of managed network 300 addressvulnerabilities.

FIG. 8 provides further aspects of these procedures. Vulnerabilitydetection tool database 800 contains definitions of vulnerabilities,which may include a severity and/or an exploitability ranking for eachknown vulnerability. Vulnerability detection tool database 800 mayincorporate or be based on a governmental or commercial database.

Normalizer 804 of computational instance 322 may obtain thevulnerability definitions from vulnerability detection tool database800. Normalizer 804 may then map these definitions to normalizeddefinitions used by computational instance 322. This normalization maybe desirable if at least some third-party vulnerability databases usedifferent scales to evaluate the severity and/or exploitability ofvulnerabilities or use different database schema altogether. Forexample, computational instance 322 may use a vulnerability severityscale (from most severe to least severe) of critical, high, medium, low,and none, while third-party database may use a vulnerability severityscale (from most severe to least severe) of important, moderate, andoptional. Normalizer 804 may be configured to convert the vulnerabilitydefinitions from vulnerability detection tool database 800 to thenormalized definitions by, for instance, mapping important severities tocritical severities, moderate severities to medium severities, andoptional severities to low severities. Other severity mappings may bepossible and similar mappings may exist for the exploitability scales.Thus, normalizer 804 may be configured to normalize definitions frommultiple sources.

Once the vulnerability definitions are normalized, they are provided tosecurity threat score calculator 806. Security threat score calculator806 also obtains vulnerability data regarding a managed network (e.g.,managed network 300) from vulnerability detection tool 802. As notedabove, computational instance 322 may retrieve this data from a managednetwork or from vulnerability detection cloud service 706. Thisvulnerability data may identify or refer to, for each vulnerabilityidentified in the managed network, a severity rating, an exposurerating, and/or an exploitability rating for the vulnerability, as wellas references to the configuration items impacted by the vulnerability.Security threat score calculator 806 may use the normalized definitionsto map the severity and/or exploitability ratings from the vulnerabilitydata to their normalized values.

In order to ensure that software and hardware configuration items arereferred to in a consistent fashion between CMDB 500 and vulnerabilitydetection tool 802, the remote network management platform may includemapping rules that allow hardware configuration items to be mapped todata referring to the same computing devices in the vulnerability data.For example, if the vulnerability data refers to computing devices bytheir IP addresses, a mapping rule may indicate that IP address is afield that can be used to match the vulnerability data to the hardwareconfiguration items in CMDB 500. In some cases, mappings may be based ondomain names, MAC addresses, unique identifiers assigned to computingdevices by the enterprise, or some combination thereof. In someembodiments, these rules may specify tables and/or fields within CMDB500 that can be used to find this information.

Security threat score calculator 806 may also obtain information fromCMDB 500 regarding the importance of configuration items impacted by thevulnerability. For example, a publicly-accessible web server and thecomputing device on which it operates may be designated with highimportance, while a client device used in a lab environment may bedesignated with low importance. The higher the importance of aconfiguration item impacted by a vulnerability, the more precedenceshould be given to addressing this vulnerability.

Security threat score calculator 806 may also obtain information fromCMDB 500 regarding the exposure of the configuration items impacted bythe vulnerability. For example, an Internet-facing device has moreexposure to vulnerabilities than a device internal to a managed network.Thus, Internet-facing devices impacted with a vulnerability should beaddressed with higher priority than internal devices with the samevulnerability.

Additionally, security threat score calculator 806 may take into accountthe exploitability of the vulnerability, as indicated by the normalizeddefinitions and/or the vulnerability data. For example, a vulnerabilitythat requires a low level of skill to be exploited should be addressedwith higher priority than a vulnerability that requires a high level ofskill to be exploited.

From this input, security threat score calculator 806 provides securitythreat scores for each combination of vulnerability and configurationitem. The combination of a vulnerability found on a configuration itemand that configuration item may be referred to a vulnerable item. Thus,a security threat score per vulnerable item is produced. For instance,if a computing device is subject to two vulnerabilities or multiplecomputing devices are subject to the same vulnerability, one securitythreat score per each of these vulnerable items is provided.

The security threat score may be calculated in various ways from thevulnerability severity, vulnerability exploitability, and vulnerabilityexposure factors. Additional factors from vulnerability detection tooldatabase 800 and/or CMDB 500 may also be used. For instance, eachdiscrete value for vulnerability severity, vulnerability exploitability,and vulnerability exposure may map to a number, and the security threatscore may be calculated as a weighted sum of these numbers. Further, thesecurity threat score may be calculated so that it is within a givenrange (e.g., 0.0 to 1.0, where 0 indicates no risk and 1.0 indicates thehighest level of risk).

As an example, security threat score (STS) may be determined using theequation

STS=w _(E) E+w _(S) S+w _(X) X

where E represents exploitability, S represents severity, and Xrepresents exposure, and each of these variables take on values between0.0 and 1.0 inclusive. Further, the sum of all weights(w_(E)+w_(S)+w_(X)) is 1.0, resulting in STS also being between 0.0 and1.0 inclusive. But other calculations are possible. For example, whereE, S, and X are all between 0.0 and 1.0 inclusive, a multiplicativeequation may be used instead:

STS=E×S×X

In some embodiments, the security threat score may be modified by thespread the vulnerability. This may be the count of hardwareconfiguration items on which the software application with thevulnerability is deployed. The modification may involve applying alogarithmic growth curve to the security threat score. As an example,one possible embodiment may calculate a partial sum of the harmonicseries to approximate logarithmic growth curve. Particularly, for avulnerability deployed on n hardware configuration items, this modifier,M, may be expressed as

$M = {\sum_{i = 1}^{n}\frac{1}{i}}$

Then, M may be used to scale the calculated security threat score. Forexample, this can take the form of

STS=M(w _(E) E+w _(S) S+w _(X) X)

or

STS=M(E×S×X)

Under these assumptions, the value of STS can exceed 1.0 when M isgreater than 1. Regardless, other equations can be used for thesepurposes.

Furthermore, a security threat score may be calculated for a servicethat uses multiple software and/or hardware configuration items as anamalgam of vulnerabilities on these configuration items. For example,this service-level security threat score may be based on an additive orlogarithmic function of the security threat scores of the individualvulnerabilities. Again, relationship data in CMDB 500 may be used toidentify a service and determine its constituent configuration items. Insome scenarios, a configuration item with known vulnerabilities in itsoperating system and/or commercial applications, combined withvulnerabilities in its custom applications, can result in a highersecurity threat score due to the ability of attackers to attempt toexploit multiple vulnerabilities.

Each vulnerability may be associated with a software engineeringindividual or group and/or an IT professional individual or group. Theseusers or groups may have accounts on the remote network managementplatform. Thus, the remote network management platform may notify theassociated parties of detected vulnerabilities and the security threatscores of these vulnerabilities. In some cases, such a notification maytake the form of an email, text message, or phone call. In other case,security threat scores may be displayed in vulnerability graphical userinterface console 808 and used by software engineers and ITprofessionals to prioritize the vulnerabilities that they address.

VII. Example Operations

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment. The processillustrated by FIG. 9 may be carried out by a computing device, such ascomputing device 100, and/or a cluster of computing devices, such asserver cluster 200 disposed within a remote network management platform.However, the process can be carried out by other types of devices ordevice subsystems.

The embodiments of FIG. 9 may be simplified by the removal of any one ormore of the features shown therein. Further, these embodiments may becombined with features, aspects, and/or implementations of any of theprevious figures or otherwise described herein.

Block 900 may involve obtaining results of a vulnerability analysisperformed on a software application discovered in a managed network,where the results indicate that the software application exhibits avulnerability, where the vulnerability is associated with a severityfactor that indicates criticality of the vulnerability, where persistentstorage contains representations of configuration items discovered inthe managed network, and where the configuration items include computingdevices deployed within the managed network, software applicationsinstalled on the computing devices, and relationship data mapping thesoftware applications to the computing devices on which they areinstalled.

Block 902 may involve determining, from the representations ofconfiguration items in the persistent storage, a count of computingdevices on which the software application is installed. For instance,the relationship data may be used to map the software application tocomputing devices on which it is installed or otherwise operational.

Block 904 may involve calculating a security threat score for thevulnerability, where the security threat score is at least based on theseverity factor of the vulnerability and the count of computing devices.

Block 906 may involve providing, to a first entity associated withdevelopment of the software application, a first indication of thesoftware application and the vulnerability.

Block 908 may involve providing, to a second entity associated withoperation of the managed network, a second indication of the softwareapplication, the vulnerability, and the security threat score.

In some embodiments, obtaining results of the vulnerability analysisperformed on the software application comprises obtaining results of astatic or dynamic code analysis performed on source or object code ofthe software application, where the static or dynamic code analysis isperformed by a third-party vulnerability detection tool that isintegrated with a remote network management platform that is associatedwith the managed network.

In some embodiments, obtaining results of the vulnerability analysisperformed on the software application comprises obtaining results of avulnerability scan of the software application as deployed in themanaged network, where the vulnerability scan is performed by athird-party vulnerability detection tool that is integrated with aremote network management platform that is associated with the managednetwork.

In some embodiments, the vulnerability is also associated with anexploitability factor that indicates a skill level required to exploitthe vulnerability, where the security threat score is also based on theexploitability factor.

In some embodiments, security threat score is also based on an exposurefactor that represents ease of access to exploiting the vulnerability.

In some embodiments, the security threat score is scaled by amultiplicative factor representing a logarithmic function that growswith the count of computing devices. The logarithmic function may bebased on a partial sum of a harmonic series up to the count of computingdevices.

In some embodiments, the security threat score is also provided to thefirst entity.

In some embodiments, the first indication and the second indication takea form of email, text message, telephone call, or web-based graphicaluser interface.

Some embodiments may further involve calculating a service-levelsecurity threat score for a networked service provided by the managednetwork, where the networked service involves the software applicationhaving the vulnerability, where the networked service is defined by aset of the configuration items and relationships therebetween asindicated by the relationship data, and where the service-level securitythreat score is based on severity factors associated with the set of theconfiguration items.

VIII. Conclusion

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its scope, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuseswithin the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those describedherein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

The above detailed description describes various features and operationsof the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to theaccompanying figures. The example embodiments described herein and inthe figures are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments can beutilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readilyunderstood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generallydescribed herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged,substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

With respect to any or all of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, andflow charts in the figures and as discussed herein, each step, block,and/or communication can represent a processing of information and/or atransmission of information in accordance with example embodiments.Alternative embodiments are included within the scope of these exampleembodiments. In these alternative embodiments, for example, operationsdescribed as steps, blocks, transmissions, communications, requests,responses, and/or messages can be executed out of order from that shownor discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order,depending on the functionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocksand/or operations can be used with any of the message flow diagrams,scenarios, and flow charts discussed herein, and these message flowdiagrams, scenarios, and flow charts can be combined with one another,in part or in whole.

A step or block that represents a processing of information cancorrespond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specificlogical functions of a herein-described method or technique.Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents aprocessing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or aportion of program code (including related data). The program code caninclude one or more instructions executable by a processor forimplementing specific logical operations or actions in the method ortechnique. The program code and/or related data can be stored on anytype of computer readable medium such as a storage device including RAM,a disk drive, a solid state drive, or another storage medium.

The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computerreadable media such as computer readable media that store data for shortperiods of time like register memory and processor cache. The computerreadable media can further include non-transitory computer readablemedia that store program code and/or data for longer periods of time.Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistentlong term storage, like ROM, optical or magnetic disks, solid statedrives, compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. Thecomputer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatilestorage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computerreadable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

Moreover, a step or block that represents one or more informationtransmissions can correspond to information transmissions betweensoftware and/or hardware modules in the same physical device. However,other information transmissions can be between software modules and/orhardware modules in different physical devices.

The particular arrangements shown in the figures should not be viewed aslimiting. It should be understood that other embodiments can includemore or less of each element shown in a given figure. Further, some ofthe illustrated elements can be combined or omitted. Yet further, anexample embodiment can include elements that are not illustrated in thefigures.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopebeing indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor; and apersistent storage containing: representations of configuration itemsdiscovered in a managed network, wherein the configuration itemscomprise computing devices deployed within the managed network, softwareapplications installed on the computing devices, and relationship datamapping the software applications to the computing devices on which theyare installed; instructions that, when executed by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: receiving results of avulnerability analysis performed on a software application of thesoftware applications discovered in the managed network, wherein theresults indicate that the software application exhibits a vulnerability,and a severity factor that indicates criticality of the vulnerability;determining, from the representations of configuration items, a count ofcomputing devices on which the software application is installed; andcalculating a security threat score for the software application havingthe vulnerability, wherein the security threat score is at least basedon the severity factor of the vulnerability and the count of computingdevices.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving results of thevulnerability analysis performed on the software application comprisesobtaining results of a code analysis performed on source code of thesoftware application, object code of the software application, orexecutable code of the software application, or a combination thereof,wherein the code analysis comprises: a static code analysis configuredto analyze the software application without executing the softwareapplication; a dynamic code analysis configured to analyze the softwareapplication while executing the software application or simulating theexecution of the software application; or a combination of the staticcode analysis and the dynamic code analysis.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein receiving results of the vulnerability analysis performed on thesoftware application comprises receiving results of a vulnerability scanof the software application as deployed in the managed network, whereinthe results identify known defects or misconfigurations associated witha particular version of the software application.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the security threat score is calculated based at least inpart on one or more importance factors indicative of a respectiveimportance of each of the computing devices on which the softwareapplication is installed.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the securitythreat score is calculated based at least in part on an exploitabilityfactor indicative of a skill level required to exploit thevulnerability.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the security threatscore is calculated based at least in part on an exposure factorindicative of an ease of access to exploit the vulnerability.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise normalizing thesecurity threat score by mapping one or more definitions of thevulnerability received from one or more respective sources to anormalized definition used by the system.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the operations comprise identifying one or more prioritizedactions associated with the vulnerability of the software applicationfor an entity based on the security threat score.
 9. The system of claim8, wherein the entity develops the software application, or operates themanaged network, or both.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein theoperations comprise: calculating a service-level security threat scorefor a networked service provided by the managed network via the softwareapplication, wherein the networked service is defined by a set of theconfiguration items and relationships therebetween as indicated by therelationship data, and wherein the service-level security threat scoreis based on severity factors associated with the set of theconfiguration items.
 11. A method comprising: receiving results of avulnerability analysis performed on a software application discovered ina managed network, wherein the results indicate: a vulnerability towhich the software application is subject; and a severity factor thatindicates criticality of the vulnerability; accessing persistent storagethat stores: representations of configuration items discovered in themanaged network, wherein the configuration items include computingdevices deployed within the managed network, software applicationsinstalled on the computing devices; and relationship data mapping thesoftware applications to computing devices on which the softwareapplications are installed; determining, from the representations ofconfiguration items in the persistent storage, a count of computingdevices on which the software application is installed; and calculatinga security threat score for the vulnerability, wherein the securitythreat score is at least based on the severity factor of thevulnerability and the count of computing devices.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein receiving results of the vulnerability analysisperformed on the software application comprises obtaining results of acode analysis performed on source code of the software application,object code of the software application, or executable code of thesoftware application, or a combination thereof, wherein the codeanalysis comprises: a static code analysis configured to analyze thesoftware application without executing the software application; adynamic code analysis configured to analyze the software applicationwhile executing the software application or simulating the execution ofthe software application; or a combination of the static code analysisand the dynamic code analysis.
 13. The method of claim 11, whereinreceiving results of the vulnerability analysis performed on thesoftware application comprises receiving results of a vulnerability scanof the software application as deployed in the managed network, whereinthe results identify known defects or misconfigurations associated witha particular version of the software application.
 14. The method ofclaim 11, comprising normalizing the security threat score by mappingone or more definitions of the vulnerability received from one or morerespective sources to a normalized definition.
 15. The method of claim11, comprising identifying one or more prioritized actions associatedwith the vulnerability of the software application for an entity basedon the security threat score.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein theentity develops the software application, or operates the managednetwork, or both.
 17. The method of claim 11, comprising: calculating aservice-level security threat score for a networked service provided bythe managed network via the software application, wherein the networkedservice is defined by a set of the configuration items and relationshipstherebetween as indicated by the relationship data, and wherein theservice-level security threat score is based on severity factorsassociated with the set of the configuration items.
 18. A tangible,non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: receiving results of avulnerability analysis performed on a software application discovered ina managed network, wherein the results indicate that the softwareapplication exhibits a vulnerability, and a severity factor thatindicates criticality of the vulnerability; determining, fromrepresentations of configuration items discovered in the managednetwork, a count of computing devices on which the software applicationis installed, wherein the representations of configuration itemscomprise computing devices deployed within the managed network, softwareapplications installed on the computing devices, and relationship datamapping the software applications to computing devices on which thesoftware applications are installed; and calculating a security threatscore for the software application having the vulnerability, wherein thesecurity threat score is at least based on the severity factor of thevulnerability and the count of computing devices.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the operationscomprise normalizing the security threat score by mapping one or moredefinitions of the vulnerability received from one or more respectivesources to a normalized definition.
 20. The non-transitory computerreadable storage media of claim 18, wherein the operations compriseidentifying one or more prioritized actions associated with thevulnerability of the software application for an entity based on thesecurity threat score.